Results from the family and coping oriented palliative homecare intervention study (FamCope)-A randomized controlled trial.

We tested if a family-and-coping-oriented basic palliative homecare intervention (six visits within 15 weeks) could improve quality-of-life and reduce anxiety and depression of advanced cancer patients and their closest relative, and reduce acute hospital admissions of patients. Fifty-seven families were randomized, but patient enrollment was terminated before reaching target sample due to a low recruitment rate. We found no evidence of effect of the FamCope-intervention, but further investigation of effective methods to support how families cope with advanced cancer at home is needed as levels of distress is as high in relatives as it is in patients. However, duration of interventions to support family-coping may need a considerable time-span to show effect on quality-of-life. We recommend that recruitment is undertaken in close collaboration with the hospital clinics, and that complexity of problems is used as inclusion criterion to decide when a family-coping intervention is needed based on the level of problems and distress in the family.